From an anthropological standpoint, we are all musical beings. Making music is a universal activity throughout time and cultures around the world, and music is used for similar purposes within those people groups. For instance, there is music for worship, for working, for soothing children, and for play.
In our time, we are surrounded by music—in the grocery store, at the gas station, in our cars, at the pool, coffee shop, clothes store, and almost every public space. Because we hear so much music, we no longer hear it or attend to it. It has become a backdrop to life that we swim in but rarely think about. When we do pay attention, especially for the sake of educating our children, we tend to unthinkingly accept a certain category of “classical music” as the best way to introduce music as a fine art.
Because some scientific studies show that playing an instrument increases certain mental abilities, music studies could increase math scores on standardized tests. Knowledge of certain musical works and composers can make students more refined in their tastes and could help with social and employment advancement. From a schooling perspective, music studies can set apart our students and programs from other educational options. However, all of these examples are pragmatic reasons that seek to use music for another end and purpose, not as true musical knowledge for its own sake and not aligned with the particular reality of what which music actually is.
To make this clearer, the following list should sound familiar. Most of our experiences with music education focus on:
- music appreciation (composers and listening to musical works),
- music history (the context in which these pieces were written and performed), and
- making music (either simply with recorders or more intently with lessons on an instrument).
In this approach, the music and composers that are taught are almost exclusively secular instrumental music, written for the concert stage, and from the past 300 years. Examples of this would be Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Wagner, symphonies, concertos, etc. In addition, some time is usually given for discussing chant. In its place, these are good things to study, but this is only part of the picture. In this approach, music gets treated as extra-curricular, as a fine art, and as something that appeals to some students but is not necessary for all students. These are the pragmatic reasons given above.
While these are commonly held assumptions about music, this perspective is relatively recent with its practices and attitudes—a product of the past few hundred years. Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy, Augustine, and many other classical and medieval authors held a very different understanding of what music is, what it is for, and the necessity for all students to study music. Aristides Quintilianus, a third century Greek author, wrote in his book on music that “music is the foundation of all learning.”
Why would these esteemed thinkers, philosophers, and theologians consider the knowledge of music to be essential for everyone? What did they understand that we, in our time, do not? Simply put, the study of music was not particularly aimed at a checklist of knowledge but rather as a mode of thinking. Or put another way, the study of music is not less than music appreciation, history, and theory, but rather it is about so much more than that.
Perhaps an example from geometry would be helpful. If you study Euclid’s Elements, you will learn concepts of number and geometry, shapes and ratios, and logic expressed in geometric proofs. But the reason to study Euclid is not to learn logic—in fact, classical studies have a whole emphasis on logic other than from Euclid. Geometry facts and formula could also be studied from a variety of texts that are less arcane. However, the tactile and immersive beauty of working through Euclid’s Elements is that it changes how you think, it influences the way you see the world, and it develops a concept of numbers in relationship—an idea that is further developed in the historic study of music which is the discipline that traditionally follows the study of geometry.
Boethius was a sixth century Roman philosopher who integrated his Christian faith into his writings. His book, The Principles of Music, was the primary text for studying music until the time of the Enlightenment. Boethius codified much of earlier authors’ writings in his text. Perhaps one of the most significant contributions he made was his description of the three types of music: musica instrumentalis, musica humana, and musica mundana (or universalis).
Musica instrumentalis is “heard music” or that which is played on an instrument or sung. It also pertains to the study and creation of that music. So the study of composers, particular works of music, learning music theory, playing an instrument, and studying the history of music are all examples of this category of musical studies. This is the type of which we are most familiar.
Muscia humana is the music of the body and soul—the harmony of a human. What does it mean to live in harmony? This would include such things as use of time and resources which is a reflection of what Augustine called “rightly ordered loves” or affections. Is our heart “pure” and “undivided” as scripture says? Do we prioritize those things which are true, honorable, pure, lovely, and commendable and “practice these things” as Paul says in Philippians 4. He further says that the “God of peace will be with you.”
This Biblical idea of peace, or shalom, is the “rightness of things”—how things were meant to be. In other words, the true concord, or harmony, of living in the cosmos the way that God created it to be. Sin brought discord and brokenness into the world, but Christ’s reconciling work brought peace and harmony through the blood of the cross. This is a restorative movement from chaos, disorder, and discord to order, concord, and harmony—a spiritual reality analogous to resolving a musical piece to a place of rest. Musica humana is living in harmony with ourselves, our neighbors, the created world, and most especially with our God.
Musica mundana is the idea of the “Music of the Spheres” or the ordered dance of the created cosmos. It is the knowledge of the truth, goodness, and beauty of those things in relationship in time and in motion. Time and motion are attributes of music in their properly understood sense. This is the investigation of how God created and upholds the cosmos (which means “order”) and how He was revealed Himself and His divine attributes in the things that He has made (Romans 1).
There are many things that can be explored regarding these three divisions of music, but the significant point is that those who came before us had a much more robust consideration of what music was, what was its purpose, and the necessity of its study. Their understanding was expressed in their belief that the study of music and music itself was formative for a person’s soul and emotions, the training of their affections, and that music inherently had ethical components independent of lyrics. As such, music was a part of early education in the very formative years and then again as a number art in relationship to arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy (the Quadrivium).
Ultimately, the goal of music is to reflect God’s order in the world and create that order in and through music for the intent of instilling harmony in those who play and listen to it. This is the beauty and opportunity that awaits all who submit to the discipline of music and its study. As such, music brings together various disciplines of study for a unified understanding—“harmonia” means to fit together. Thus, the study of music offers a mode of thinking unique to itself and essential as the “foundation of all knowledge.”
Greg Wilbur is the founding president of New College Franklin, a composer, and a professor of Quadrivial Studies at New College Franklin.
